CARB unveils plans for several new trucking rules

Six years after enforcing and writing multiple trucking regulations, the California Air Resources Board has signaled a readiness to dive back into more stringent trucking rules.

At 5 p.m. on Friday, March 8, CARB announced multiple new staff proposals that would limit greenhouse gas emissions and NOx and expand enforcement powers for the state’s idling limit. The announcement welcomed public participation and input in a CARB workshop held at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, March 11.

The new proposals would:

Harmonize the state’s greenhouse gas emissions rule with a federal rule approved in 2011 by the Environmental Protection Agency; Adopt a new, more strict set of standards for NOx than the existing standard that aligns with 2010 model year engines; Amend the state’s Airborne Toxic Control Measure to include truck idling. The new amendment would “expand compliance responsibility” to vehicle owners, shippers and brokers, CARB said in an email; and Amend existing labeling requirements to include the category “zero emissions vehicle.”

The multi-pronged effort may remind many of CARB’s expansive foray into trucking between 2006 and 2008, when multiple regulations began being written and enforced. In those years, CARB began enforcing its five-minute idling restriction and its Transportation Refrigeration Unit rule, and started implementing the statewide port rule, the greenhouse gas emissions rule, the truck and bus rule, and the SmartWay rule.